Pain Brings Us Together
by Mini Misaki
Summary: Rukia needs to find a decent fiancé before the end of the month of June. Ichigo's having nightmares and starts to think it's his fault his mother's dead. Can the pain in their hearts bring them togther and wash away the rain once and for all?
1. Marriage

It was a bright, clear day in the city of Seireitei, the birds were singing, the trees were waving and the blue sky was beautiful. It was one of those days where shinigami decided to ditch work, lay about and hang around Rukongai, where they would tease kids until they started to play with them. It was a perfect day in Soul Society, or so it seemed.

A petite girl with raven-hair sat neatly in front of her adoptive brother, who avoided eye contact in deep thought. The girl, usually known as Rukia Kuchiki - the next heir to the Kuchiki house, sat quietly, talking to herself in her mind. She was wondering why she was here and why her brother needed to talk to her. Why? - That's when he started to speak.

"As you may already know, soon you will be the head of the Kuchiki house, and soon you will become 6th squad's taichou. First of all, to be head of the Kuchiki house, there is a rule that is never noticed by the female leaders of the house and that rule has now officially been put into place.", He said, in his usual emotionless and serious voice.

"Nii-sama, may I ask what the rule is?" she asked, curiously. Her purple eyes, shifting in curiousity, wonder and alarm. Her brother hung his head and hesitated for a moment, he looked as if he didn't want to tell her, but he looked as if he was forced to tell her.

"The rule is of that, if a female is the heir of the Kuchiki house, then before the heir becomes leader - they must marry a subject of worthy status.", He continued with a spark of guilt in his dark eyes.

Rukia was shocked and speachless, she didn't know how to react. She needed to now marry someone, someone she may or may not love. And as she was thinking, he became more impatient to leave, until he simply stood up and swiftly moved out of the Kuchiki manor. And before he did so, he also told Rukia something - _"If you desire to marry another shinigami or any other, for that matter. I will give you a month to choose, otherwise I will choose for you to marry someone of a noble status."_

The still-shocked Rukia stood up and wondered about the manor, trying to think of what to do. Of course, she had to get married - but to whom? She had always felt as if someone's going to get married, they should marry who they honestly love, and would do anything to protect. Even if it did sound like something out of a fairytale, that's what she had wanted from when she was a child.

For the rest of that day, Rukia wondered around a forest in Rukongai, she found this a way to calm herself and figure out things more clearly. Even if she was walking in complete circles, she wouldn't have had a care in the world about it, all she did was wonder why Byakuya wanted to get married. _Was he pressured by the Kuchiki clan's governors? Did he know that something might happen to him, so he was getting the next heir ready? _She wanted to know.

She decided to keep this to herself. If she told Renji then he'd start making up reasons why she should marry_ him_. If she told Ukitake,_ he _would ask Byakuya about it. If she told Inoue, _she_ would just make her see the bright-side of things, without helping her solve her problem. Would Ichigo help? Or would he make it worse? She didn't know what to do,she didn't want to get married, or even be the leader of the clan and 6th squad.

Where did her destiny lie? Why was her destiny leading her to despair? Why did the rain still continue to fall in her heart? Why was the pain so hard to deal with? And so hard to hide? - She wanted to know.


	2. Nightmare

The sky was pure blue, and there was a figure standing in a field of green grass and flowers. No matter how far the orange-haired boy ran, the figure seemed to become more faraway. As he ran towards it the figure became more familiar and as he ran, he became taller and his features became more matured. And the only word that could be heard coming out of his mouth was, "Okaa-san!"

Even as the figure become more closer, the vision became blurry and dizzy until the darkness was all that could be saw. As that darkness him, he noticed a very familiar voice. "You do know, it was your fault. It was your fault she died. If you hadn't ran towards that thing, she wouldn't have been sacrificed.", the voiced whispered, echoing throughout the darkness. A shinigami with a white robe, white hair and white skin came forward from the never ending pool of darkness. The only color that was different was the black of his blade and more strangely, the yellow of his eyes. It was_ Him_.

"No...Not...Okaa-san...I know it's my damn fault! I dealt with it!" Ichigo yelled to his inner hollow. His hollow just laughed out of Ichigo's pain, as if he was finding some sort of dark joke out of it. Was he? Ichigo didn't know, he just watched him laugh, in his inner pain and sorrow.

"Y'Know Ichigo, you really are pathetic. You think you can say you've dealt with it, huh? Well here's something for you,_ King_.", he disappeared, shrieking in laughter. The laughter continued to fade away slowly, as a bright light with the similiar figure came back, but more clearer than the first. As the light begun to fade, he realized who it was, causing his heart rain, like that June night when he lost her to hollow.

"Hello, Ichigo!" she smiled, holding her hand out to him like she did back then. He tried to keep himself from going forward, because he knew from the bottom of his heart that his mother died because he had failed to protect her, and that this wasn't real. He was feeling as if any moment, his heart would wither and die in the flood of guilt that night had left behind, other than the rain and tears that had been kept in his soul, storming until he found something to avenge her or he would try to accept the fact and move on, but could he? He was staring at her beautiful smile, the smile she had given him before she died.

His heart was aching to go to her, but his mind told him to remain how and where he was. He didn't know what stupid tricks his hollow might pull and what's going to happen if he does. As he looked over to her, Masaki's beautiful smile was fading and began looking at him as if she was worried. "Ichigo? What's the matter? Didn't you miss me? Or...don't you like me anymore?"

"N-No...N-Nothing's w-wrong...W-Why?" he stuttered, hesitating as he said it.

A large amount of reiatsu surrounded him and his dead mother, who was rapidly becoming agressive towards him. Out of thin air, she summoned a sealed zanpakuto without calling it's name or drawing it from anywhere. He watched as she closely examined the katana with her eyes and as she ran her finger across the blade, gaining a small cut. She looked up at him, her eyes were looking at him as if he was some sort of outsider, freak, as if she was looking down at him.

"Goodbye, Kurosaki Ichigo.", she said, running the blade into the heart of his chest. It was so fast, Ichigo couldn't feel the pain. All he felt was the gushing of his own blood, in his hands. Was this there because, he could've never protected her? Or maybe, because she took her life for him? The answer was always the same, it was his fault. His fault his own mother died, trying to protect him. If it weren't for him going after the hollow's bait, then his mother would still be alive, caring for him and his sisters. But, if she didn't die, how was he supposed to meet Rukia and become a shinigami?

He just knew one thing for sure, it was his fault. The loss of blood made him feel dizzy, but the feeling felt clear as crystal.

Ichigo found himself in his usual bed at home, was it a dream or a message? Ichigo thought deeply as sweat rolled down his cheeks, as he panted heavily. He sat up and slid his fingers through his hair as he thought. No matter how hard he thought, the feeling had disappeared and he couldn't get an answer.

He decided to have a walk around town, to clear his head. Hopefully he'd walk into a hollow, a little fight would clear his mind, wouldn't it? Or maybe he'd go and annoy Hiyori. Either way, he'd be fighting a hollow and either way it would clear his mind and maybe he'd forget. He wanted to forget, hopefully he'd not walk into Urahara or Yoruichi, because they know when something's wrong and they'd interigate him until he spit it out. He just wanted to keep it to his self...for now.

**Dedicated to my first reviewer, Personal Riot!**


	3. Depression and Heart

In classroom 1-3 at Karakura high school, the orange-haired shinigami sat down at his desk, with his head down. He didn't want people to see his "depressed" face, especially Inoue, Chad and Uryuu. He didn't want people to ask him what was wrong, he just wanted to be left alone. It had been three days since his nightmare, yet it continued to be on constant replay whenever he fell asleep. The only difference he could make out was that each time it played, everything began to become more graphic and clear. As if it was becoming more HD every time it played.

Before first period, everyone was looking at him, pointing and talking about him and his most recent depression to their friends. People tried talking to him, and the answer was always the same, "Don't speak to me" or "Leave me alone". It started to look like it was some sort of party game near the end, because the whole class had joined in, and the people who spoke to him walked away to their friends and laughed so hard, the next class was about to join in too. He didn't need this, he just walked away and no one stopped him, no one cared.

Since the start of first period, Ichigo hid upon the roof, where no one would find him. He watched the clouds float by momentarily, as he tried to clear his head of _him_. It wasn't as easy when he started to speak though. "Hey, King! Cut down on the depression and depressed thoughts, will ya? Your givin' me a headache!" smirked his hollow, before continuing. "I swear, we're gonna have a bloody bilzzard at this rate!"

He had lost track of time while listening to his hollow and Zangetsu speaking about him, as he was still watching the clouds. As he was sitting there, looking at the sky, Tatsuki, Inoue, Chad, Keigo and Mizuiro came up to him, quietly. Just as he was about to turn around and tell them to "go away", his cellphone rang and his Subsitute Shinigami badge begain to sound. Even Tatsuki, Keigo and Mizuiro heard his badge sound, which meant he couldn't transform in front of them. So he quickly picked up his cellphone, for Urahara to be on the other end.

"Kurosaki-san!" Urahara said, in his usual cheerful voice.

"...Urahara-san?" Ichigo said, making clear it was him.

"Yes, yes! I need to talk to you about something, Kurosaki-san."

"About what?"

"Well...Drop by the shop later and I'm sure I'll tell you! And please, Kurosaki-san, be sure to know that a few tests will be done.", Urahara said, becoming more serious.

"What kind of tests?"

"Erm...Well...Bye Kurosaki-san!" Urahara exclaimed, quickly hanging up.

Ichigo quickly put his cellphone in his pocket and stood up, and began to run off. He had to run to the Hollow, maybe it was what he needed. He needed time and he needed to become stronger within his heart and hopefully, soon his nightmare will disappear after becoming stronger.

He ran towards the Hollow, which was in front of the sakura trees. He quickly swallowed his artificial soul, releasing Kon and ran towards it, shielding himself away from the hollow's constant attacks. It didn't seem as if it was a normal, harmless hollow, it seemed to be more powerful and even more harmful then Ichigo's "archenemy", Kuchiki Byakuya.

"I see you've met my pet, Mio!" said a feminine voice, which turned out to belong to a black haired arrancar. "By the way, I'm Cerezos, Ducha Cerezos. The current espada tres.", she said as she summoned her hollow, Mio with some kind of hand gesture. "And you are..?"

"Kurosaki Ichigo, Subsitute Shinigami, part-time Vizard." He said, hesitating.

"Oh, yeah! The prodigy Aizen-sama keeps talking about. By the way, what happened to Ichimaru-sama and Tousen-sama? They didn't come back after that battle, do you know why?" she asked. Ichigo cursed under his breath when she said "Prodigy". Even if he was one, he hated being called that.

Ichigo let a few awkward moments pass, "So are we gonna fight or not?"

"Perhaps. And since you haven't bothered to, I'll make the first move", Cerezos said, unshealthing a normal katana. One second, she was gone, the next second she had slashed him deeply. He didn't know what has happened, the pain wasn't there. He slowly fell to the ground, he lay on this back, he failed. "Hmm...Aizen-sama's made a mistake, you're not a prodigy at all. You just seem like a normal, stupid Shinigami." Cereroz claimed, walking away from him. "Mio! Time to go home! NOW!" As she walked away, his hollow decided to have a conversation with him.

"Pathetic...PATHETIC! Which reminds me, why are _you_ _King_? If Zangetsu wasn't watching over me all the time, I would take ya over. Then you'd be the horse, and I'll be the King." He snickered. Then he became silent. So now, he was alone, in the cold. His eyesight started to go blurry and he became more dizzy as a second went by. He started to hear footsteps running towards him, and panting coming in his direction. Then right before everything went black and silent, several voices called his name, and he reconised them. All at the same time, it went -

"ICHIGO!"

"Kurosaki-san!"

"Kurosaki-kun!"

"Kurosaki!"

And the only thing he said was, "R-Ruki...a".

-x-

**First off, in this storyline, Aizen goes back to Hueco Mundo in the middle of his fight with Ichigo. And Gin and Tousen are dead.**

**Second off, I had to hurry this near the end (as you maybe able to tell) so I can also try and finish the next chapter of another bleach fanfiction (and another pairing) as well as come up the the title.**

**PS - I don't own Bleach! and In this chapter (excluding the bold parts, AKA my ranting at the end of the chapter) I have wrote exactly 900 words. (which I counted with an online word counter.) and another 100 and something words for my rant.**


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